The CBC had a story this morning on a program set up to help students at a Calgary junior high school use public transit, after the school board stopped making yellow school service available to them. The principal discussed how older students were mentoring younger ones. It all seemed reasonable enough.
Still, it had an underlying tone of anxiety. As though 11 and 12 year olds taking public transit was something scary and overwhelming. But why?
I was 11 when I started taking public transit to school. The preparation I had was the bus schedules. You wait for the bus. You pay get on and pay. Then you get off at a designated stop, and wait for another bus. You need to pay attention to the bus numbers, but this stuff shouldn't be beyond 11 and 12 year olds. Worst case scenario is you miss your bus. Which sucks, but it's not the end of the world.
I don't get why many families today seem frightened or disdainful of public transit. I've been at a friend's house when his teenage daughter had a melt-down because he wouldn't drive her to the mall. I didn't say anything, but I was puzzled why she didn't just take the bus.
We had a party on the weekend, and a few of us who grew up in Calgary were reminiscing about taking the C-Train downtown to go Stephen Avenue Mall, movies, arcades, the Devonian Gardens etc. We remarked that the only people who seemed to use the C-Train to go downtown on a Saturday in those days were adolescents and teenagers like us. Kids also took transit to Southcentre and Chinook malls.
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Originally Posted by fotze
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Grade 4 I was taking transit by myself to get to the Advanced Ed program in Saskatoon so that was about 9. By 12 I had freedom to roam around the city on transit.
I'm with you by middle school if the numbers don't warrant direct bussing and the public transit routes are good I don't understand the apprehension.
i did get lost a few times getting on the 6 instead of the 6A but it wasn't a big deal. That said yesterday I got on the wrong train going home so it's not limited to kids.
I used to take Calgary Transit to and from school when I was 7. When I was 10 I took the bus pretty much anywhere. My friend an I would take the bus downtown from Renfrew (ok not far) and watch movies at The Palace.
Good times, but yeah it is a different world now and parents and society in general are much more risk averse.
I come from a place where taking public transit is ubiquitous, although I personally didn't have a need to take it by myself until about 17 years old as everything I needed was close by. One thing I've noticed living here though is that a lot of people (not all) look down on public transit as being for lower income/class people only and thus wouldn't be caught dead on it. This feeds down to their kids.
My sister in law is the typical Calgary suburbanite. Rarely leaves the comfort zone of the south of the city and downtown is a place to be avoided if at all possible. She lives in Evergreen. Her 16 year old daughter works at Southcentre. The kid is not allowed to take the train home by herself. Her parents will go pick her up, or on occasion, my wife has had to go over and pick her up (we live close to the mall) She has tried a couple of times in the past taking the train home - on one occasion, she had to phone someone as she couldn't remember which stop to get off at and ended up getting off at the wrong one. On the other occasion, she got off at the right stop but didn't know her way home to her house from the station! These seem like basic thing that anybody should know (especially teenagers who are on their phone constantly and have access to google maps, but have no clue how to use these tools apparently), but I guess if your parents don't teach you these skills, then it's hard to blame the kid.
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I remember one time when I was maybe 11 or 12 and my buddy and I got lost in the city on a bus. We were dropped off some place in the foothills industrial area by his dad (I think we were going to some store in the area but his dad couldn't take us home afterwards so we had to take the bus back.) It should have been an easy trip home and about 20 or 30 minutes on the bus. We had to catch the circle route (either 72 or 73, I can't remember which one.) Of course we got on the wrong bus which went the opposite direction. We didn't realize at that time and just sat there. After about an hour or so we ended up at Market Mall where the driver took a break and asked us where we were going because we had been on the bus for so long. He told us we caught the wrong bus but we would get home soon enough. I think it took us just over two hours to get to where we had to go.
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I've been meaning to take 72 or 73 all the way around once... never gotten to it.
Re transit being sketchy: I don't take transit after 630pm anywhere, but agree that it should be a non-issue for anyone who is old enough to pay a fare to ride alone.
Agree with the comment above about people looking down on transit. Some people assume you take transit because you can't afford parking downtown, don't have a vehicle etc. Truth is some people would simply prefer to commute via transit instead of driving. I'm one of those people. I like driving on an open road in the country but Deerfoot at 7am headed downtown? No thanks.
It could also be a case of helicopter parenting. Some parents (not all) want to hover over their kids and control all aspects to make sure they're ok. When in reality all they're doing is teaching their kids they aren't capable
One thing I've noticed living here though is that a lot of people (not all) look down on public transit as being for lower income/class people only and thus wouldn't be caught dead on it. This feeds down to their kids.
Yeah, the aversion to public transit does have a whiff of class contempt. I know some people who take cabs everywhere, and regard public transportation as akin to going to the food bank, or rummaging through alleys collecting bottles.
Calgary wasn't always like that, though. Some of my buddies are from quite affluent families, but they still took the bus to movies, the comic store, arcades, etc. IMHO, we've become a much more class-conscious society, and driving your kids in an SUV all over the city 7 days a week is definitely a class signifier.
I'm already imagining how it'll play out as our kids get older. They'll want to go to Chinook Mall with a friend. We'll show them the bus schedule. Their friend's parents will say no problem, we'll just drive them. Being polite people, we'll feel an obligation to drive the kids next time. And so it goes.
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Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
We had Calgary Transit charter buses in elementary (Catholic division), and then from grade 7 onward we were taking regular transit to and from school.
We took public transit a lot when we were kids growing up in Kelowna. My only fear for my kids doing it here is the likely probability that the bus is delayed during the winter months.
I am kind of curious about parents who don't mind their children taking public transit, what kind of contingency plans do you have set up for certain situations - bus is late, missed the stop, missed the last bus, etc?
I think that by age 11 or 12 kids are old enough to take the bus themselves. some kids are ready to take the bus at a y9ounger age; however, I suppose there could be aconcern over how they would deal with someone harassing them.
I will drive my kids to places where it is inconvienet to go via bus - but otherwise, I am fine with them walking, biking, bussing on their own - it is a life skill
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My question is, is there any actual law forbidding children from being unattended in public (or private) spaces under a certain age? Or is this just "best practice" unwritten policy?
My question is, is there any actual law forbidding children from being unattended in public (or private) spaces under a certain age? Or is this just "best practice" unwritten policy?
It varies by province. In Manitoba and New Brunswick kids under 12 can't be left unsupervised. Other provinces have guidelines that seem to be applied pretty arbitrarily. The biggest factor seems to be whether an anxious bystander or neighbour raises a fuss.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
If this day gets you riled up, you obviously aren't numb to the disappointment yet to be a real fan.
My question is, is there any actual law forbidding children from being unattended in public (or private) spaces under a certain age? Or is this just "best practice" unwritten policy?
The article about the guy in BC says only three provinces have Laws. I think Quebec, Manitoba, and Ontario with Quebec and Manitoba being 12 and Ontario being a ridiculous 16
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Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
The CBC had a story this morning on a program set up to help students at a Calgary junior high school use public transit, after the school board stopped making yellow school service available to them. The principal discussed how older students were mentoring younger ones. It all seemed reasonable enough.
Still, it had an underlying tone of anxiety. As though 11 and 12 year olds taking public transit was something scary and overwhelming. But why?
I wonder if it's a spin on another story, but there is a CBE parent who is opposed to paying the noon hour supervision fees now that the students have to take public transit to school. Her reasoning, if they are old enough to take transit by themselves to school, they are old enough to eat lunch without supervision.
Children on Public Transit
